RUSH’s Geddy Lee Receives Honorary Doctorate, Really Loves His Mom

When Heeb spoke with helium-voiced RUSH frontman Geddy Lee for our “Music” issue, he admitted his mother Mary had expected something very different from young Gary Lee Weinrib, “a nice Jewish boy from the suburbs” – Understandable considering that after WWII, Weinrib’s Concentration Camp-survivor parents hadn’t relocated to Toronto expecting to see their son immerse himself in rock and roll, of all things. How could they have known that a few decades later “Geddy” would become one of the biggest rock stars in the world.

Lee was recently awarded an honorary doctorate by Canada’s Nipissing University (presumably for simply being Geddy F’n Lee) and in his taped remarks to accept that honor, he did what exactly what you’d hope a yid-turned-rock god would do: He cracked a joke about Jewish doctors, kvelled over his own son (an actual MD) and gave major props to his mother. Now I hate the phrase “Nice Jewish Boy” with the fiery passion of a thousand exploding suns, but sometimes – just sometimes – the shoe fits.